This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Don't people realize there are hundreds of free porn video sites besides Pornhub? With bigger selection too because the lesser known sites usually don't get half their content DMCAed.
Paying money for a VPN just to access ONE free porn site? Sigh. I really hate web 3.0
Peak French stupidity, this isn't about protecting kids - it's about building surveillance infrastructure. Back in 2024, critics already called this the foundation for a "Great Firewall of France". Once you have the legal framework to block websites and force ISPs to implement monitoring, mission creep is inevitable.
The technical approach is laughably naive. They're essentially creating a centralized system that could easily become a database of citizen sexual preferences. Even with their "double anonymity," you're still creating digital fingerprints and metadata trails.
Most importantly, it won't work. Kids will just use VPNs - the same way adults are already doing. You're not protecting anyone; you're just pushing everyone toward circumvention tools while normalizing government control over what adults can access online.
It's perfectly French because it combines maximum bureaucratic complexity with zero practical benefit, all while creating new opportunities for state overreach. Classic.
I hate how VPN access is the scaffolding holding the building up making things look normal. You can visit all your normal web sites, you can bypass georestrictions, you can be a little less tracked than you might otherwise be. But what happens when they decide to do away with that scaffolding and we all find out they tore down the house behind it while we were enjoying "normalcy". Too much of making the web functional depends on vpns and adblocking. We shouldn't have to do this stuff and Chromes adblocking scandle should impact millions of users all around the world unilaterally removing adblocking from the web. I fear for the day we have a US only internet and a global internet, not just on paper, but in actual practice.
I'm pretty satisfied as a subscriber. Slowly using proton mail for more and more important accounts. Constant usage of the VPN. Trying to use the calendar more but still haven't broken my Google Calendar habits. Proton Drive I use over google; I just need a Linux desktop application. Proton pass, still haven't given that a go. Comfortable with KeepassXC and managing the backups myself. Proton Docs, it's OK. Solid start. Hoping that notes partnership/acquisition eventually replaces Google Keep for me as a cloud notes application. I have pretty strong confidence now in the company regardless of the slow Linux developments
Not sure where I got it form, but I have a Proton VPN client on Linux. It is pretty barebone, but it works.
Personally I just pay the 12,10$ for Bitwarden and use SimpleLogin aliasses together with that.
I just miss Microsoft Office on Linux, but that has nothing to do with Proton.
At first I suspected this was the French government demanding that 40% of the videos be made in europe using the French language.
once again porn leads technology
I remember when the French used to respond to this shit with fire instead
Now we get tear gased and shot with rubber bullets until we become disabled
Dr. Cox was right: “I’m fairly sure if they took porn off the internet, there’d only be one website left, and it’d be called ‘Bring Back the Porn.'”
I have to admit, of all the nations on earth, I never expected this sort of puritanical theatrical authoritarianism out of the french.
To clarify, the french didn't ban pornhub, it's the company behind pornhub who decided to deny it's access in France to protest a law proposal that is currently getting examined in parliament
Ps : The law in question would require all porn sites to verify the age of its users
They've been trying to block it for many years now.
France has been going downhill for quite some time. Many proposals for chat control and tracking... even recently, we got a law proposal that aimed at banning E2EE 😵
Blocking porn has got to be the most "why even bother" thing
Political theater. "Won't somebody think of the children?" is an easy win for politicians.
wtf, france?
I guess this bodes well for Proton becoming increasingly a Google One products replacement with more users potentially paying
